"Is there something you wanted to show me?" someone asked. He grumbled, "I hope its less cold and less windy."
"It is a little less. And of course, I want to show you something, Human Of The Cothica," someone replied.
"I am not the Human Of The Cothica," the human replied. He crossed his arms and said, "Lizard boy of the Mipedian tribe."
"Do not call me Lizard boy!" the Mipedian yelled furiously.
The two stopped and glared at each other for a while. Soon, they puffed and chuckled together. The human tapped the scaly back of his friend and the continued. It wasn't the first time they provoked themselves with those words.
It was however the first time he went outside of the underground part of the city.
"So. What did you want to show me?"
"Since you came in the city, you never see what is outside. I wanted to show you human. Then maybe… you will tell me your name," he gazed at the side.
"Maybe" the human had a teasing smirk.
They reached the border and looked at the horizon. The human could see rivers, lakes and large forest to his left. When he tried, he could see a city, but the sight gave the impression it was in ruins. To his right, he could see a vast desert with a few oases in the way. Nothing else, as if civilisations abandoned it.
"So? What do you think Human Of The Cothica?"
"Stop that," the boy grumbled. He then smiled and said, "It's beautiful. Kinda wish my home was a little more like that."
"Hum?"
"Anyway. Why are you all living in this city instead of down there?"
"To escape slavery. We can't fight back our enemy. If we try, we will end up as a slave," the Mipedian replied.
The human was quiet. He gazed down. The beautiful land of Perim suddenly turned more sinister than before. Something was hidden in the land, an unseen evil. He crossed his arms and added, "You know. I only tell my name to friends I trust."
"I… understand," he gazed at the far-off desert.
"Alexandre," the human said. He gave a fist bump at the shoulder of the humanoid lizard, "Call me Alexandre."
"Alexandre," that was the strangest name he ever heard, "Mine is Goch," and did the same as the human and fist bumped his shoulder.
It was a strange name for the human too.
Chapter 7: The Quest In Kaizeph Part 1
Kaz was preparing himself to go to Chaotic. Today, they finally began their scan quest in Kaizeph. With everything going on, they grew curious about the mysteries of the city. Sarah was right.
He grabbed his scanner and went down the stairs. He would at least take his breakfast before going. It was better to have a full stomach for their long trip. Plus, a full stomach on Earth was a full stomach in Chaotic.
He stopped when he noticed his mother on her computer playing Chaotic Online. He could tell with one gaze, "M-mom? What are you doing?"
Miss Kalinkas smiled at her son, "I'm playing Chaotic. After talking to you, I think I've really missed those good old times. I talked to some of my old friends who played the first generation and a few are playing this generation too. Turns out that one of them is also working at the company to revive the Chaotic card game," she smiled as she finished her game, "It's good to relieve your childhood memories sometimes."
The computer wrote that she won her match and was on a winning streak. That made the boy a little nervous, knowing that she might appear in Chaotic eventually if she got the code. Still, he wouldn't sabotage that. It was her chance to live her dream.
He saw her smile and could see the better time she had. Time when she didn't have to raise him on her own because of his father sudden departure, "Mom. May- No. Eventually you will get a special code if you win often enough on your scanner. I got one too," he told her.
"Won't be too long. The rules didn't change that much. It's just more balanced and none of the creatures are as evil than the previous generation. Still an Underworlder," she winked at her son.
They were an Underworlder family.
"Sure," he grabbed his scanner and said, "I'll go see Tom. We will study together for an upcoming test. Will help me stay focus," he pressed on the switch and sent his code to Chaotic.
The boy waited for his friends to come and it was, thankfully, not too long before they appeared. Kaz was surprised that he was first.
Sarah, Tom and then Peyton ported in. They all greeted each other's and prepared their plan.
"Before we go, we need to know how to get in and which part of the city we go in," Tom said as he showed an improvise drawing of the city with how it was split by the elements and which tribe controlled which quadrant.
"Danian is out of the question," Sarah said as she made an X on the Earth quadrant of the city. The girl didn't need to explain why.
"The Underworld is a bad idea. I am not certain what they will do with all of us together. Chaor will quickly know when I'm there," Kaz nervously said as he crossed the fire quadrant, "And it might be way too hot for us."
"So, either the windy land or the watery land bro. The windy land is pretty chilly thought. It should have been icy land," Peyton said.
"Which one?" Sarah asked.
"Mipedians might be invisible to guard the entrance. We might think we aren't watched but we might totally be," Peyton warned about the wind quadrant entrance with a spooky tine.
"I have no authorization from any Overworlders to go in. So, the guards will chase us and try to stop us if we try to go inside. We will see them however," Tom commented. He added, "And the water quadrant isn't just water or they would all have drowned already."
"Let's go with the water quadrant today," Peyton decided.
They had a better advantage in that quadrant than the other one.
"Dealing with the Overworlder it is!" Sarah declared as Tom put the improvised drawing in the bag.
The four Chaotic Players prepared their bags for their little expedition and hoping to find some answers.
Before they ported in, Kaz said, "Mom is playing Chaotic now and she is on a winning streak."
"Really? Guess it might be a little embarrassing if she comes here," the teenage girl commented.
"Yeah. I told her what to do with the code, when she received it. It's a dream come true for mom," the red-haired boy said.
"That's really cool of you bro!" his optimistic friend said.
"Anyway. I got that out of me. I can focus all on this. Let's go," and the four ported in.
The Chaotic Players managed to pass the first hang up really quickly. It wasn't easy but they had to enter into a ship that went to the floating city. They were hidden in the compartment where the Overworlders stocked their gears to excavate the relics of the past.
Since they weren't found, the four went to the next phase as they wondered how they could pass the gate. The ship stopped at the entrance of the water quadrant. They went out of their hiding spot and hid behind the many crates that would be brought in the ship later on.
They observed The Wave Gate. It was a gate made of water as a waterfall passed in front of the large door. It was breathtaking for the Chaotic Players.
"I can't believe such gates has been made long ago," Peyton whispered with excitement.
Tom focused on the guards watching the doors. They were around six of them passing them won't be easy. They were armed and they could be shot down if spotted, "We have to be really careful."
"We know," Sarah replied before adding a due. However, when she saw the guards, she understood her friend meant really careful. A mistake and it was over for them.
Kaz watched behind the gate and it looked like it was a green forest. From what he knew, it had a lot of lakes and rivers, "Any idea how to pass them?"
"I wondered where the buildings are. Except for the one at the top," he pointed at the golden building.
"It had been abandoned long ago," Sarah remembered. They knew that some of lived there were elemental creatures but they knew nothing else. They got a scan but could only see little of their memories. It was carefully sealed away in their mind.
"Maybe the city was underground," Tom guessed.
"Or gone," Kaz wondered.
They noticed that the guards left their post for something. They took a quick gazed and saw that they were two Overworlders arguing about something they found.
"Now," Sarah said.
They rushed through the entrance and they passed through the gaze.
Once at the other side, they were wet and it would take some time to dry out.
"That was an unnecessary nice shower," Peyton commented with a small smile.
"Yeah. At least it's not cold," Kaz said.
"I heard no one yelling to stop us," Sarah added with relief.
"Let's go a little deeper and find a spot to scan the location. So, we won't have to try and enter next time," Tom suggested.
They walked through the corridor and stopped when they found stairs leading undergrounds. They could see around the stairs, plants and bushes pushed on the side. It was obviously used to hide the entrance. They guessed it was surely a safety measure against the invaders. They climbed down the stairs as quietly as possible. There was no one in the way.
"It has been a while. I bet they are excavating deeper than before," Kaz suggested.
It paid off that they waited for a while. They quickly reached the bottom and slowed down when they saw the corridor quickly opening up to a large underground city.
The city felt like those it was made in Kiru city but more rudimentary. It looked like it was sculped in the rock. The square shape and the details put on them showed that it was made by past Overworlders. A few other structures were spherical and another one was larger than the others.
"It is similar to Kiru City," Peyton commented, finding the similarity striking.
"Maybe we can go inside this house and scan it," Sarah suggested.
The group went inside and checked. It had been clearly cleaned up and excavated anything interesting. They could see it wasn't dusty. Proof that the Overworlder already went here. With their shortcut scanned, they began to plan their search.
"We have to find anything that will explain why some creatures believe we come from the Cothica," Sarah said as she saw the star eyes of the boys, "Not searching for a good scan," however, she was tempted too but they had to remain focus. They could always come back another time for that.
The trio marched into the abandoned city, where Overworlder once lived. They carefully listened if any creatures were around. They did heard sounds of creatures talking and excavating on their left and went to the right. It was strange to go in a place that felt familiar but at the same time, not at all. They were discovering a city left behind. A grand sense of adventure, grander than before.
Peyton took out his scanner and looked around, just in case they might miss something without zooming in. They eventually reached a block with many houses surrounding the sector. It was a dead end. However, there was a building larger than the others. They believed it might had something important inside.
"Let's go," Tom said as he pointed at the larger building, "Something big like that might not just be a house."
"Especially closed to small ones. It might be something like a library or like the Battlegear Depot of Bodal."
They at the entrance and pressed the door. It felt on the ground with a loud sound and gasped.
"Hope it doesn't bring trouble," Kaz commented as he went inside first.
The others followed him.
They had been heard as a creature was watching them. He decided to wait for them to come out before confronting them.
They looked around and the building looked worn out inside. It was very open and by the form of the shelves inside and the few tables. They guessed it was a location where they stocked information's. It was really dusty inside, proof that the Overworlders didn't enter inside. It made them feel like it was a library.
"How do we proceed?" Kaz asked. It was a large room and when looking closely, there was a second floor.
"We split up. Me and Tom checked this floor and you two go to the next one," the girl said.
"No problemo! Come on Kaz!" the larger boy brought his friend and went to the next floor.
And so, began their search for anything that might explain what was going on.
"Good things those are tablets, because nothing made of paper would remain," Tom commented.
Kaz grumbled, "It's just really heavy."
Sarah rolled her eyes as she pulled one. She grunted at how heavy it was. She brought it to a table. She was proud she didn't complain. She looked at the writing and understood nothing. It was not written by humans so it was obviously pointless to try.
"Guys! I found something," Peyton puffed as he checked the tablet.
"Is it worth going to you?" Sarah asked as she put the tablet where she found it. It was difficult to do, but she managed, "And we better put everything back once we are done. The Overworlders will come here eventually."
"It's a nice drawing sculped on the tablet," Peyton said.
"Let me see… Really guys come here! I can't believe what I'm seeing!" the other boy said.
Tom and Sarah tried to remember where they began and went to the next floor. They stood besides their friend gazed at the image.
It was the image of a Mipedian and Overworlder holding hands together. Their face was hard to understand but it seemed like they had an uneasy smile. Like they were forcing themselves to be together.
The surprise was that the third being in the image sculped on the stone tablet was a human, holding the hands of the two creatures together.
AC: This is the end of the first part. They found out that a human was there long ago. How they will react will be in the next part.
Kaizeph purpose is different than the one planned for the show because it didn't continue and this fit better with the narrative I am making. So those chances are purposely done.
As you also see, Kaz mother is interested in Chaotic once again and might appear later in Chaotic and Perim.
Hope you like the little bit of the past. Also, you know now the name of the human who lost his way.